Franco Cesarini

Ukrainian Rhapsody

Folk music plays an important role in the life of the Ukrainian people. Their country covers an area of over 600. 000 square kilometres and has more than fifty million inhabitants. In the north there are vast woods, in the west one finds the picturesque Carpatian mountains and valleys, and in the centre and the south Ukraine has its famous steppes with fertile black soil. The river Dnjepr divides the country in two, forming a natural frontier between the western and eastern regions, which each have their own distinctively different musical folklore. This diversity forms the musical basis for Ukrainian Rhapsody. The work consists of three movements: the first one, in a moderatetempo, without a pause flows into a slow but very expressive middle movement, resulting in a powerful climax. The composition ends with the Gopak: a rousing dance.